Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Suitor

Our house in Brooklyn is nearly 150 years old; once long ago it was right by the docks, now the docks are cut off by the expressway...but sometimes I swear that I can still smell the salt smell coming in on a breeze, especially on a summer night when my imagination is hard at work.

I like to climb the narrow spiral staircase to our crooked little roof deck, and lean on the wooden rail that looks out over the rooftops to the East River. Sometimes on nights like these, I think that Brooklyn is my suitor, a rough and beautiful boy pressing close next to me, whispering so quietly that I can't even hear the words, offering me the water and the windows all lit up with people's lives.

I love the photos. The words too of course. You know me and architecture. What did I notice? The windows! You know as an almost architect I love chairs, pencils and pens, but also WINDOWS!!! I love walking with T-Bone and looking at and looking in windows. Not as a voier, simply as an observer. Especially at night. I love the yellow incandescent glow. The artist in me find the color comforting and warm.

You're a wonderful writer babe. I feel as if I'm standing right there. Thanks.

I like the image of Brooklyn as a rough and beautiful suitor. And how wonderful to be in such an old house full of history and incident. There's something rather cold and clinical about brand-new houses.

*sigh* as much as i love my house, sugar, this made me miss my old house down in the historic district even more! pure beauty, darlin! i totally understand the smell of the sea and how it seems to sneak in. we've always lived near the water, too. i need to feel/hear/smell it. xoxoxo

Striking, vivid imagery. But "once long ago it was right by the docks, now the docks are cut off by the expressway?" That would frustrate the heck out of me. Glad your mind allows you to rise above it.

nick--a house "full of history and incident" is an absolutely wonderful way to describe it!

Ronda--thank you. And thank you for stopping by, I am always so delighted to see you!

savannah--there is something so wonderful about old houses, but they are SO hard to maintain, especially these crazy ones that are over 100 years old--Sarge despairs regularly, and wishes for newer construction...

Marianna--I'm glad you came on the journey!

Pat--it does indeed, at least in my neighborhood!

Candie dear, hello and have a good day yourself!

Silver Fox--I think the docks were highly disreputable back in the day, and our house was situated in a more questionable section of a very fancy nabe...The waterfront even today is better left to admiring from a distance...

Wings--thank you!

MJ--I know, good christ, all my delusions are running together...help!

You are an exceptionally visual writer Leah. I have no preconceived idea about Brooklyn, you make it sound welcoming and warm and exciting and I so wish I had a rooftop verandah from which to view the world.

Holly--it is such a great view, but one has to accept the constant flow of the expressway right below in order to love it!

merelyme--I swear that your comments have bolstered me to such a degree that I come back and look at them when I need a lift! I am going to collect them in a little book of affirmations to keep by me as I work on my book. And I'm not kidding.

Tom--it was great! I stayed for an hour, long enough to watch the blue dusk turn to evening.

Baino--we love the roof deck; it was an inspired idea. I often wonder whether previous tenants climbed the fire escape to go sit up there!

dreamhaven--welcome! I too love old houses, and have always always lived in them. It's relatively hard to find very new construction in Brooklyn, much of it is at least pre-war, and we live in an historical neighborhood.

C--oh it really, really does. I noticed that one of your fave books is "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." That's one of our favorites too...

You always write the best stories, and to say that Brooklyn is your suitor is cool. I would love to go on a rooftop and see a city when all the lights are turning on and then turning off. Glad where you are living is safer than if you really were by the docks. The pictures are nice.